always listened to a thousand voices. Jeri
is quite good at what she does." Phillips described 7 of 9 as, "a very
intelligent character. She retains the knowledge she has assimilated. She'll
help Voyager get home." It looks like "she will be a foil for
Janeway."

He's done a lot of conventions recently: one in Savanna, GA;
Buffalo ("it was very cold"); Federation Con in Germany. He said the
German Star Trek fans--90% of them wear uniforms to conventions, while
here in the US it's a lot less. He thought that was fascinating.

There is a new alien race being introduced to Voyager
"which make the Borg look like the Sisters of Mercy." I understood the
implication to be he was talking about Race 8472, introduced in the Season Three
finale "Scorpion I."

Look for a Neelix episode "where he has more than three
lines." It's not written yet but will be the fourth or fifth episode of the
season.

The now age-old question was asked: "Will Chakotay and
Janeway get together?" Phillips replied that "Kate (Mulgrew) wants a
relationship between a man and woman with an intensity and power without
sex." He thinks they will "ultimately get together in a sixteenth
season . . .".

Neelix is apparently loosely based on opera director Peter
Sellers. He feels Sellers is a "cross between Neelix and a parrot." He
knows Sellers and sees him as "a real nut with a large mohawk." Later
he said Neelix really wasn't based on Sellers, "he doesn't have a split in
his nose and doesn't have Talaxian credit cards."

Phillips was laughing about how he moons the other actors on
stage and started talking about butt cracks and Robert Beltran. In the first
season episode "Tattoo," we see Chakotay facing his father and
"we see a little butt crack." When it was shown in the dailies, it was
decided that they couldn't show his butt crack so they had it digitally removed.
Then they took another look at it and it just didn't look right, so they spend
$10,000 to have it digitally restored!

Speaking of Beltran, Phillips said the man is very funny,
"but has a memory like a sieve." He just saw Beltran in
"Hamlet" (stage play) and he found it odd that he remembered all of
his lines in the play!

Neelix and Kes
from the Voyager episode "Warlord"

On the Kes/Neelix break-up: No, he said he didn't know what
happened. There was the third season episode "Warlord" where Kes and
Neelix have a conversation over a meal . . . and Kes talks about them taking
some time apart--but that Neelix thought that was the Possessed Kes talking. But
apparently that was the real Kes breaking up with him. Kes wanted to break up,
but Neelix didn't. In the following episode, "Fair Trade"--"the
episode with intergalactic drug dealers", there was a scene they shot where
Neelix acknowledges that they've broken up--a scene that was filmed for the
audience only, to understand what was going on between them. But it was cut
later and never made it to the final version because of time restrictions.

Is there unequal writing for the Voyager cast? Phillips
said he feels Neelix hasn't been given enough to do. However Robert Picardo's
Holographic Doctor "is in a long tradition of Trek characters who is a
non-human and can comment on the human condition. It's a tribute to Star Trek."
Neelix isn't Starfleet and isn't on the Bridge, "and the Bridge is where
all the action is." He's supposed to be the Morale Officer, but thinks he
may turn into the ship's counselor instead. That would make him more of a
"team player."

Talaxian make-up: 3 hours on and 1½ hours off "with an hour
of maintenance."

How much of Neelix is in Ethan Phillips? "Neelix is a lot
different. He's the kind of person who wants to be a spectacle and be in your
face. I'm more aloof." He says Neelix has his voice, his walk and his
mannerisms. In many ways the two are similar because they're played by the same
person. He was cast for the role of Neelix because of who he was as a person.
But in general, in terms of "how much Ethan comes out" in Neelix:
"Only as much as brings the truth out. Other than that, I want nothing else
out."

When asked how old he was, Phillips responded, "I'm
28-years-old today (yes, he was kidding). Neelix is a very old guy--190
Talaxian." What's in store for his character he doesn't know. He does know
that Neelix has a huge crush on Captain Janeway. Phillips said that
people probably don't notice this, but in scenes together, Neelix is usually
"riveted" on Janeway the entire time. "Kate is the most
beautiful,